The Bird of Hermes
by FalconStorm
Summary: SPOILER for end of manga-When Alucard returns to Integra after being missing for thirty years, he's not quite the same. To recover his powers, he must kill, but the master he adores is sworn to protect human lives. Prequel to my fic "Legacy of Hellsing", but can stand alone as well.
1. Failure

**The Bird of Hermes**

Summary: When Alucard returns to Integra after being missing for thirty years, he's not quite the same. To recover his powers, he must kill, but the master he adores is sworn to protect human lives.

SPOILER ALERT:

This fanfic is placed after the end of the manga and directly addresses events from the end of the manga. For the purposes of this fic, when Alucard stated he killed all his lives except one, the one he is referring to is himself, not Shrodinger. As far as this fic is concerned, Shrodinger is gone, either killed or kicked out. Take your pick. I'll include my reasoning for this at the end of the chapter for anyone who cares.

Note: This is a prequel for my fanfic Legacy of Hellsing which can be found here: s/8652087/1/Legacy-of-Hellsing. However, this fic can also stand on its own. I hope everyone enjoys this. There is a little bit of AxI, but in a purely platonic sense. No lemons and Integra IS in her fifties here, just like at the end of the manga.

Disclaimer: I don't own Hellsing or its characters, but they are fun to play with. Especially angsty Alucard. Yes. He can be angsty. Leave me alone to dream. :p

**Ch. 1: Failure**

The body of a boy in his late teens sprawled across the gravel of the cabin's driveway. His spiked blond hair clung to his scalp along three deep, bloody furrows. The fourth claw had caught him in the eye, popping the squishy orb out of the socket so it dripped blood and clear fluid down the boy's pale cheek

Alucard paused and sniffed. A fresh kill. The blood scent tickled the back of his throat, waking the gnawing hunger that blood packets could never completely satisfy.

He passed the body by. Integra frowned on him eating the victims.

The cabin's front door hung from a single hinge, the wood reduced to jagged splinters. Seras had been dispatched to search the woods for the creature responsible for the death here, but the door had caved in from the outside. She wouldn't find the thing among the trees.

The vampire crunched his way across the porch and stepped through the doorway. The house was silent but for a faint snuffling sound from the back. Alucard headed in that direction, hearing wet squelching noises, loud chewing and the sudden crack of breaking bone. A smile curled the corner of his mouth.

He found the creature in a back bedroom, hunched over a body lying prone on the bed, its chest cavity and abdomen cracked open like a split lobster. The great, humanoid creature had massive bat wings sprouting from its shoulders and pale, pasty gray skin. It buried its snout in the body's chest cavity, rooting around for the tastiest bits.

Alucard scowled at the creature…a greater demon. He hadn't seen one of those since the 1700s. It had been one of the few creatures to give him a real fight before Van Helsing defeated him.

Reaching into the folds of his red duster, he pulled the Casull from its holster. The demon paused to listen at the sound of leather sliding over metal. Alucard leveled the gun at the demon's head and the creature started chuckling low in its throat. The vampire's grin split his face as he pulled the trigger.

The creature dodged away, moving in a blur of motion. The bullet hit the corpse, sending bits of flesh and bone flying.

"Blessed silver bullets. I could smell them when you entered the building."

"Good. I would hate for you to be unprepared." Alucard turned to aim again. The demon leaped to the side with that blinding speed. Twitching his hand so only the gun moved, Alucard pulled the trigger. The bullet caught the creature in the shoulder, spinning it around.

With a guttural snarl, the demon launched itself across the room, talons bared. Alucard jumped to the side, dodging the attack. The creature whirled, arresting its momentum in the blink of an eye. It dived at the vampire, huge gaping maw closing on Alucard's leg and crunching through the flesh and bone like a kid with a tootsie pop.

Alucard snarled and reached for his ethereal form, the smoke and shadows that would dissolve his broken body into mist and reform it whole and pristine. The demon tightened its jaw on his very solid leg and shook its head, worrying at the flesh and bone like a dog. Alucard could feel the change begin, but it moved sluggishly through his veins, a pale shadow of the power that had once struck fear in the enemies of Hellsing.

The demon dropped him and, grinning down at him, slammed a clawed foot into his other leg, shattering the knee and surrounding bones with claws ripping into his flesh.

Alucard grit his teeth against the flaring agony. He raised the hand holding the Casull, but the demon batted it aside, sending it flying across the room along with most of the vampire's fingers.

The ritual words to release his control restrictions floated through Alucard's mind, but they were useless. He had no control restrictions anymore. His power no longer required restriction.

The creature towered over him, flexing those sharp black talons. Blood and saliva dribbled from the massive jaws full of sharp, serrated teeth. Glaring at the demon, Alucard pushed himself up, fangs bared and snarling at the thing. The demon threw its head back and laughed.

"Pathetic vampire! Bring forth your familiars. Heal yourself. Stand and fight!"

Alucard glared at his legs, shattered and seeping blood. He could feel them healing, but slowly. Too slowly. His body felt empty and hollow, every familiar he had collected over five hundred years destroyed, down to the last, the cursed Shrodinger. All of them annihilated so he could return to his master.

"Alucard! Alucard! Report!"

Integra's voice erupted from the ear bud in his right ear. The demon snarled and slammed a punch into the vampire's chest that shattered his rib cage and sent splinters of bone through his lungs. He groaned and coughed up a mouthful of blood. What could he say to his master? Good-bye? Again?

"Alucard! Report! Immediately!"

"Send in back up, my master." His voice rasped over the humiliating words. Darkness began eating the edges of his vision.

"_Alucaaaard_!"

V^^^V

Blood. Blood is life. It is the coin of the soul and all things good and wholesome…for a vampire.

Alucard came to himself, guzzling the liquid in great draughts. It poured down his chin and neck from the wrist trapped in his jaws. His red eyes flickered open, following the line of an arm…up to the police girl's face.

Seras looked down at her master as he gnawed at her wrist. His broken body knitted itself together as she watched. Integra stood over both of them, a glowing cross in her right hand. The demon was nowhere to be found.

As soon as full awareness returned to him, Alucard released the wrist trapped in his mouth. He blinked up at the human and infantile vampire that had saved him.

His face betrayed nothing, no fear, no joy, no surprise or anger. With eyes half closed as though to sleep, he turned his head to stare at the wall so he wouldn't have to look at his master and servant, the women he was supposed to protect. And couldn't.

**End note:**

So, about Shrodinger. The concept in the manga was that so long as Shrodinger recognized himself, he was everywhere and nowhere. When he killed himself and dropped himself into the river of blood that Alucard was consuming, he joined with Alucard and all of his lives. When that happened, Shrodinger no longer recognized himself among the millions of lives, so he ceased to be, taking Alucard with him.

At the end of the manga, Alucard says that he was able to come back because he killed all of his lives…presumably so that Shrodinger would recognize himself again. This is nifty in theory, but Alucard also suggests that Shrodinger is still there when he says "Now I'm nowhere, yet I can be anywhere. Therefore, I'm here." The problem I have with this is, if Alucard is still in there alongside Shrodinger, then technically, Shrodinger _still_ wouldn't recognize himself. Therefore, to my mind, Alucard would have had to kill _all_ of his lives, including Shrodinger. Since the bulk of his power came from the sheer number of lives he had consumed, then that would leave him severely weakened.

I think I may put waaaay too much thought and analysis into this. That's what I get for being so analytical, I guess.

Please review. I'd love to see what people think of this.


	2. A Solution to a Problem

Disclaimer: Hellsing is not mine. I make no money from this madness. More's the pity.

**Ch. 2: A Solution to a Problem**

Integra clenched her teeth on her cigar as she attempted to concentrate on the report in front of her. The demon had killed twenty-three more times before the Hellsing Demon Extermination Unit could dispatch it.

Over the thirty years since Alucard had disappeared, they had developed various units specializing in disposing of the creatures that they used to be able to just send him after. When he returned, Integra had assumed he would be just as powerful as ever. He hadn't denied that or warned her he might not be able to handle the foes they used to throw him at…until he almost died in truth.

_How_ could he frighten her like that?! She didn't care that he had lost the power that she had come to depend on in her youth. In thirty years, she had learned to compensate for that. She was just glad…to have him back.

Sighing, she sat back in her office chair. He didn't see it that way. She knew that. Since the incident, he hadn't come out of the basement except to collect the blood packets that the butler that replaced Walter refused to deliver down there. How could a man over five hundred years old _sulk_ like a…a…_toddler_? And yet, that was so very…Alucard.

At least he wasn't out trying to get himself killed again.

V^^^V

Seras touched the door to her master's chamber, her stomach tied up in knots. She'd never seen him like this: sullen, angry…powerless. She wanted to reach out to him, but every time she tried, he snarled at her.

Taking a deep breath, she knocked on the door.

"Master? I brought you some blood packets."

The door knob clicked and eased open a couple of inches. Hesitantly, Seras pushed it open and found Alucard lounging on his throne, legs crossed at the ankle out in front of him. His head tilted down, the brim of the fedora hiding his face from view. Empty blood packets littered the floor and the room smelled vaguely of rot and decay. Seras resisted the urge to cover her nose.

"Where do you want them?"

No response. Alucard could be a corpse in truth for all the reaction he gave her. She wondered, if she dared to check under the brim of the hat, would she find a dried out husk? Biting her lip, she spotted a small table beside the door.

"I'll just leave them here."

Silence.

Hurriedly, she dropped the four packets of blood on the table and rushed out of the room. She had meant to talk to him…tell him it wasn't his fault. He'd done what he had to do in order to return to them. Even if that left him weakened, she didn't care. She had her master back. But she couldn't do it. His silence spoke loud and clear. He wasn't ready…and might never be.

V^^^V

Alucard watched Seras scurry from the room. She couldn't see his face under the brim of his hat, but he was fully aware of everything in his domain.

With the door shut, he levered himself to his feet. His legs and ribs still ached with the phantom pain of an injury he could no longer heal on his own. He still tasted Seras's blood on the back of his tongue. It filled him with impotent rage.

Snatching up a blood packet, he ripped the IV port off with his teeth and tilted his head back to pour the red liquid down his throat. All too quickly, the last drop drained out and still that hollow, hungry feeling made his chest ache. Integra's virgin blood could ease the ache…for a time. It always returned, if anything more powerful and painful than before. A vision popped into his mind, his teeth sunk deep into Integra's throat, drinking, consuming her, not to turn her but to take her in, make her a permanent part of himself.

His mouth opened and a look came over his face as that of a man sighting heaven. He knew she would sooner destroy him…and herself, than allow him to consume her. Still, the dream danced in his mind like a carrot before the proverbial ass.

Tossing the empty blood packet on the ground, the vampire strode back to his throne and glared down at it. Nothing had changed in his basement room in thirty years, but nothing was the same. He brought his hands up to examine the pristine white gloves he wore, not a mark on them.

An idea floated across his glowing red eyes. His lips slowly skimmed back in a feral grin and for the first time since his encounter with the demon, a low, maniacal chuckle rumbled up out of his chest.

V^^^V

A man in a bright red duster strolled down Brixton road at 1:53 in the morning. Most of the district's residents slept fitfully in their beds…if they had beds in this barren, burned out part of London. Those that were still up and about were generally up to no good.

A pair of ruffians spotted the lone figure. They took in the sumptuous leather duster and matching fedora. The clothes looked like something out of a theatre production, but the quality of the material spoke of a man of wealth. Grinning at one another, they hurried around a corner to hit up a cross alley.

Alucard came to a stop at the sound of a footstep behind him. A thug strolled around the corner in front of him.

"You've a gun aimed at the back of yer head, sir," the thug said with a gap-toothed grin. "We'll be having your wallet and any valuables you might be having on your person."

"Oh, will you, now?"

Alucard cocked his head at the human bully, the distant street lights glinting off his orange spectacles. The thug took a step back, uncertain. Generally, his announcements weren't met with such calm confidence. He expected more begging and pleading.

The vampire flashed a grin at the thug and rushed him with a speed that a human couldn't hope to react to. The gun went off as Alucard's teeth closed on the man's unprotected throat. The gun went off again as the first thug died with a loud gurgle.

Terrified, the man with the gun turned to flee, all sense of loyalty lost in the face of certain death. Alucard dropped the body clutched in his jaw and leaped after the fleeing gunman. Taking him from behind, the vampire sank two fingers into the man's eye sockets and ripped backwards, opening the human's brain case in a great fountain of blood. He buried his face in the warm flesh, gnawing on the bone as the blood covering the street began seeping toward him. It soaked into the hem of his duster and the soles of his boots. Pulling back, Alucard cradled the bloody remnants of the gunman's head in his hands. With a tender look that didn't belong at the site of such slaughter, he opened his mouth, light glistening off the upper and lower row of spiked teeth. The body twitched with some base brain nerve reaction as he bit down into the flesh of the throat.

Blood welled up and dripped down the vampire's jaw. His eyes closed in utter bliss. The human's body wavered to mist around the edges as tendrils of Alucard's hair snaked around the remnants of the mutilated head. They curled themselves around the body, consuming and feeding until nothing but a splotch of red remained on the sidewalk.

Alucard's body dissolved fully into shadow and a pair of wide, frightened eyes blinked open on his chest. The vampire looked down at his new familiar and wild, joyful laughter bubbled up out of his throat.

Thunder rumbled across the sky overhead as the clouds opened with a deluge that swept over the infernal creature as he descended on the other thug still twitching in the final throes of death.

**End Note:**

Yum, dinner? What _would_ Integra think?

Kinoko182: I'm glad you like it! I just finished reading the entire series recently myself and am on a total Hellsing bender at the moment. Heh. At least I'm getting some good fanfic out of it? *grin*


	3. Paying the Piper

This chapter is a little short so I thought I'd go ahead and throw it up.

Disclaimer: Maybe I should just put a general disclaimer on my front page. I don't own Hellsing. I think we all know this by now. *smile*

**Ch. 3: Paying the Piper**

Integra tapped a finger against the mahogany of her desk and resisted the urge to scream at the man sitting across from her.

"And _how_ many have died?"

"We…we're not exactly sure. We can't find the bodies."

"Then how do you know they're dead?"

"We have a witness."

"To all of the deaths?"

"Well, no. But the MO matches."

Integra sighed and lifted her glasses to rub the bridge of her nose where the edge of her eye patch pressed into the skin. Working with the police on a suspected supernatural case was a bit like herding cats. Retarded ones.

"So, what makes you think this string of…supposed…deaths is supernatural in nature?"

"The witness saw the perpetrator…_eat_ the victim…and then dissolve into a colony of bats."

Integra sat up, scowling. No doubt, the witness had gotten hell for that story. The fact that anyone had taken them seriously enough to bring this to the Hellsing organization was a miracle in and of itself. She could only assume that whoever thought to bring it to her agency had worked with them before.

"Has the man been evaluated for mental stability?"

"Ah…woman, actually, and yes. She came out clean. Almost didn't come forward at all. She thinks at least part of what she saw was a delusion, but she has information that was not released to the public."

"Did she have a good description of the culprit?"

"Ah…yes…well." The sergeant's eyes suddenly wouldn't meet hers. He glanced around the office as if there would be a test later on the furnishings. Integra's stomach twisted with suspicion.

"Well?"

"Male, dark hair. Unnaturally tall. Red coat and hat."

Integra collapsed back in her chair, fists clenched. Of course, there was a possibility it wasn't Alucard, but to cling to such a hope spoke of deep rooted denial. She did not indulge in comfortable lies.

"I see. It does sound like something Hellsing would look into. Have your office fax the reports to me and I will have our supernatural expert review the case."

"Thank-you, mum."

The sergeant stood, clutching his hat in his hands. Integra waved him off and he scurried out the door. Taking deep breaths, she glared at her desk, trying to sort through the roil of emotions in her gut, none of them very warm or fuzzy.

"Alucard, I know you're listening."

The vampire in question phased through her office wall. He studied her clenched fists and the angry…betrayed look on her face. Sliding the orange spectacles off his face, he doffed the fedora and knelt before her, head bowed.

"My master."

"No!" Integra hit the top of her desk with a clenched fist. "If these are your kills, I am _not_ your master! I know that you are no longer bound to me the way you were but…I thought…I thought you had changed. I thought I could _trust_ you!"

Alucard closed his eyes, head still bowed. He could hear the tears in her voice. Angrily, Integra dashed the wetness from her eye. She did _not_ cry…for anything.

"I suppose, once a monster, always a monster. Do you deny that it was you who killed these people?"

"I do not."

Integra's throat closed up, choking her with the strength of his betrayal. She blinked quickly, fighting back the tears that threatened. She would _not_ give him that power over her.

"Why, Alucard? I demand an explanation."

"My mas…Integra. I value your life above that of every other human. If every low life and fleck of scum in England must die for me to ensure your safety, then die they will, whether I may call you master or not. I will safeguard you until your life comes to a _natural_ close."

"Low life? Scum?"

Alucard lifted his head and stared into her blue eye, his face completely devoid of emotion.

"I have killed no one who has not already killed another. An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. I have consumed them, taking their knowledge and memories into me. I have sought their accomplices and compatriots. It matters not if my familiars consist of murderers and rogues. The power is the same, regardless."

"Murderers…rogues…" Integra closed her eye and sat back in her chair. "Vigilante justice. You have declared yourself judge, jury and executioner over these people."

"Yes, Integra. I have."

The blond woman fell silent, lost in thought. Alucard remained in his kneeling position, watching her face as she stood in judgment over him…her opinion the only argument that could sway him. Normally not a patient man, he would wait on her forever if she asked it of him.

"You understand I _cannot_ condone your actions. The judgment and punishment of _human_ criminals is outside of Hellsing's jurisdiction."

"Of course, Integra."

"That's 'master' to you…servant."

A wide, manic grin split Alucard's face. He bowed his head again, trembling ever so slightly in his excitement. A small smile curled the corner of Integra's mouth. She should have known he wouldn't stray from the Hellsing tenants to protect King and country.

"Now, go."

Rising, Alucard replaced his hat and glasses, still flashing that Cheshire grin. He turned to head for the door.

"Oh, and Alucard?"

He paused and looked over his shoulder.

"Next time, don't get caught."

"Yes, my master."


	4. Consequences

Ch. 4

"Are you certain this is wise, madam? The riots in London have grown worse since the announcement that reconstruction for the Brixton and Lewisham districts are on hold for the foreseeable future."

Integra eyed the man that ran her household, Robert Matheson, Walter's replacement. It just wasn't the same. The man was competent enough, but he lacked a true understanding of the supernatural and Hellsing's role in policing it. It also didn't help that, after Walter's betrayal, she found it hard to trust anyone the way she had once trusted him.

"One does not refuse a summons to a gathering of the council of twelve. If the king says we must meet, then I will be there. Don't worry. I'll bring Alucard with me for back up." It would be a good time for him to hunt. Matheson straightened his back and gave a disdainful sniff with his nose in the air. Integra knew the man didn't like Alucard. She suspected he feared the vampire but refused to admit that was the reason he treated him with such disdain. Far be it from her to force the man to face his fears, so long as it didn't interfere with the running of her household.

"Very well. I will have the car brought around."

"Thank you, Matheson."

With a bow, the butler left and Integra rose to head for the basement. She didn't even bother to ask the man to fetch Alucard for her, although it was in his job description. Alucard also knew the man didn't like him and he took perverse pleasure in nettling the butler.

Striding through the door in the basement dungeon, Integra looked around the dimly lit room. Seras had reported to her the condition Alucard had allowed it to get in after his brush with true death. Although the room still smelled faintly of death, it wasn't overpowering and the empty blood packets had been picked up.

Crossing over to the black coffin, she rapped on the lid. Since the sun was still up, Alucard would still be sleeping, but the round table waited for no one.

After a few seconds with no response, she knocked again, louder this time. A moment later, the lid rattled and a white-gloved hand appeared under the edge.

"Bring yourself to the front hallway, Alucard. I require you to accompany me to London."

"Yes, my master."

V^^^V

Alucard perched on the edge of the roof of the new municipal building overlooking the Thames. With the sun settled below the horizon, his blood-colored duster didn't stand out so stark against the dark sky. He'd been watching the street, waiting for an opportune moment to slip away and hunt when the first protestors started arriving.

Since the razing of London, protests had become a weekly occurrence and practically a national past time. Even after thirty years, the restoration of London wasn't complete. With half its population destroyed, entire districts remained burned out and empty. They had become hotbeds of lawlessness and unrest…prime hunting grounds for the vampire.

The people of the great city wanted it repaired, but there was only so much money and manpower to go around…and no point in restoring an area where no one would live because there simply weren't enough people left. Now, they had an entire generation that had never known the London that was. Not that Alucard cared. He had seen entire peoples rise and fall, seen countries change hands back and forth, and watched his own homeland fade from being part of the center of civilization into a second rate circus act, thanks to a certain horror writer who would remain nameless.

Now, he watched the people milling in the street, some holding signs and chanting. More stood off to the side, watching the spectacle. Someone must have let on that there was an important meeting occurring.

Thus far, the protest had remained peaceful, but he could feel the tension in the air. He dared not leave to hunt, now.

The round table meeting let out at a quarter to nine. As soon as he heard the doors open, Alucard phased down into the bulk of the building. Although the other members of the twelve all knew about him and what he was, several of them still jumped when he glided through the wall to take his place at Integra's back.

"_Must_ you bring your pet vampire, Integra? What if he decides to…eat someone?"

Integra leveled a look at Sir Arthur McMurray, chancellor of national security. The man didn't have nearly enough spine for the position he held. That could account for the continued riots and lawlessness that some parts of London still suffered under.

"I assure you, councilor, he only eats those who are deserving of it."

Not sure whether she was kidding or not, the man quickly made way for her as she headed out the door, the vampire at her back like a red, menacing shadow.

Alucard didn't mention the protest outside. The members of the twelve would have been notified as soon as it started. He followed Integra through the hallways to the front entrance. She called for Matheson to bring the car around as they walked.

Outside, a line of police stood on the steps of the municipal building, holding the protestors back.

Alucard scanned the crowd as soon as they stepped through the door, assessing threats and watching anyone that showed too much interest in Integra. As soon as she appeared, shouts and jeers went up from the crowd. Never mind that she had no control over the issues they were protesting about. All they saw was a person that had a position in the government they felt had wronged them.

The police saw her and started clearing a way to the street where the Hellsing Bentley was nosing its way through the thick crowd. A chunk of rubble came flying through the air. Alucard snatched it moments before it would hit Integra and turned to glare at the perpetrator. He searched the crowd, but there were too many to identify the individual culprit.

The shouts and jeers grew louder, interspersed with the blasts of police whistles and insults to everything from Integra's ancestry to her sexual orientation. Another object came flying at her and Alucard moved to block it.

"You mongrels!" he roared and the noise of the crowd dropped a decibel. "Have you no self respect? A city recovers on the backs of its citizens, not its government alone! You have had thirty years to rebuild and what has come of it?"

The crowd roared back in angry protest. Integra touched the vampire's shoulder as he moved to reach for the Casull tucked away in his duster.

"Don't. You'll just make it worse."

Alucard turned to her with a sneer. She scowled at him and shook her head. Gritting his teeth, the vampire moved his hand away from the holster inside his coat and took a step back. A gunshot rang out.

Integra crumpled, clutching at her right side. The rich scent of her virgin blood engulfed the vampire. Like a fine wine, it only got better with age, but the smell meant she had been harmed. _His_ master…bleeding…and not for his benefit.

With no restrictions to inhibit his newly won power, it burst from his body in a mass of black tendrils. With his master injured, the thought of taking the time to taunt and toy with his adversaries never crossed his mind. His power plunged into the crowd, spiking bodies and lifting them up, impaled on stakes of pure, dark power.

High pitched screams broke out as the protestors panicked and tried to flee, but Alucard's power met them wherever they turned. His dark, manic laugh rang out over their heads as rivers of blood flowed up the steps of the municipal building to be absorbed by the soles of his boots.

Integra's shout of "Alucard! No!" got lost in the pandemonium. Although the vampire's sensitive hearing should have been able to pick it up, the command fell on deaf ears. The insane rage that danced in his red eyes knew no master.

"Integra! Do something!" The other members of the twelve stood at the building's doorway, watching the carnage with horrified eyes. Three of them vomited their dinner all over the concrete steps. A couple more looked like they wanted to follow that example. The rest retreated inside lest the vampire turn his murderous intent on them.

"Alucard! Stop!" Integra reached out to grasp his duster, but it was gone, replaced by the black leather of the outfit she had first seen him in. Gritting her teeth, she grabbed for one of the straps and pulled herself into a sitting position. The gunshot wound in her side sent fiery tendrils of agony through her. Ignoring the pain, she got her feet under her and hauled herself up, using the straps of his outfit as handholds.

Fully upright, Integra buried her fists in the straps over the vampire's chest and _yanked_.

"_ALUCARD_!"

Finally, those wide, insane eyes shifted to her. He wore a grin that was more than half snarl.

"Stop! For the love of God, _stop_, Alucard!"

The vampire blinked at her, sense returning to his eyes, if not true sanity. He looked around as the impaled bodies began to dissolve into the black tendrils of his power where it engulfed the street. Most of the police had escaped unscathed, but as his power pulled back, only a few scattered signs remained of the protest turned riot. There had to have been over a hundred people in the street when that gunshot rang out. The Bentley sat in the middle of the empty road, a shell shocked Matheson at the wheel.

"You're injured, master."

"It's not mortal. _What_ were you thinking?"

Alucard stared out over the empty street, contemplating the lives he had just consumed.

"They threatened you, my master. They _harmed_ you."

Integra pressed a hand to her bleeding side and winced. She needed to get to the Hellsing physician, but she had to do something about her vampire, first.

"Go, Alucard. Go to your coffin and do not emerge until I come for you."

Alucard pressed an arm across his chest and bowed at the waist.

"As you command, my master."


	5. Back at the Beginning

Note: The Ripley Scrolls mentioned in this chapter are real, and they are where the inscription on Alucard's coffin came from. Google it, if you're curious. I know *jack* about alchemy, so there is a liberal dose of imagination included in this chapter. I really enjoyed creating it, though. *grin*

**Ch. 5: Back at the Beginning**

Integra squinted at the old, hand-written journal, wondering where Abraham Van Helsing had learned English. Did they really spell things that atrociously in the late 1800s? Oh, wait…that's right. English wasn't his first language. Damned Dutchman.

The notes the man left on the spell used to bind a vampire to the Hellsing family might as well be pure gibberish. They seemed to be some unholy conglomerate of alchemy and mysticism. Modern science would maintain that such a feat was impossible, but somehow, it had worked…and she had to find a way to duplicate it.

Setting the journal aside, she picked up a color photocopy of one of the Ripley scrolls. The key was here, somewhere. She skimmed through the illustrations and alchemical references until she found the two lines she knew like her own name: _The Bird of Hermes is my name, eating my wings to make me tame_.

The concept wasn't difficult. The seal had to consume Alucard's power to lock it away, but it had to be able to be accessed again when needed. There had to be protocols to follow and requirements to be met for release…an idea blossomed in her mind.

Reaching for the phone on her desk, Integra winced and groaned. She'd moved too fast for the wound in her side. At age fifty-three, wounds just didn't heal the way they once had. The pain seemed to set up a throbbing echo in her empty left eye socket. Why did new injuries always make the memory of old pain flare up again?

Gritting her teeth, she picked up the hand set and dialed the extension for Hellsing's IT department.

"Yo, boss."

Integra winced at the American voice on the other end of the line. Although a genius in his field, Gary Wilson wouldn't know common courtesy if it bit him in the ass.

"Report to my office, immediately."

"Aren't you supposed to be on bed rest, boss lady?"

Integra's hand tightened on the handset of the phone.

"Are you my keeper?"

"Err…no."

"Correct answer. Now get your ass up here."

"Yes, ma'am."

Integra hung up the phone and leaned back in her chair. Yes, she was supposed to be on bed rest, but the longer she took to create a new seal for Alucard, the longer the vampire stayed in his coffin. She couldn't be absolutely sure he was there, even now, but being that there hadn't been any massacres within a hundred mile radius since the riot, she could safely assume that the strength of his desire to obey her held him in place. Too bad that same desire couldn't curb his instantaneous need to murder, maim and dismember when she came to harm. Only the re-sealing of his power could accomplish that.

V^^^V

Integra paced around the outside of the circle inscribed in the stone of a basement room that had been sealed up until two weeks ago. She hadn't known it existed until she stumbled across reference to it in Van Helsing's journal. It made sense that he would have made a permanent alchemical circle for his research. She just hadn't had reason to think about it before.

Now, wires ran along the lines of the circle and bundles of optical cable and neon tubing made up the alchemical symbols around the edges. Gary sat at a bank of computer monitors, frowning as he checked his lines of code one last time.

Four Hellsing soldiers entered through the side door, carrying Alucard's black coffin bound with silver chains and crosses. They had already successfully tested the sealing procedure on three other captured vampires. She planned to keep them as test subjects for other ideas she and Gary had brainstormed for this new blending of alchemy and computer technology.

Leaning on the cane in her left hand, she gestured for them to place the coffin in the cleared center circle. The wound in her side was healing, but slowly. She had finally bowed to the insistence of her physician and started using a cane to facilitate getting about.

Another soldier followed the ones with the coffin, carrying a chair that he placed next to the black box. Integra waved them out of the room as she took a seat on the chair. Gary got up to close the door and hurried back to his station.

"Activate the rings," Integra said, pulling a key out of her pocket.

"You sure about this? He killed a lot of people last time he was out of the box."

Integra leveled a glare at the impudent American.

"He went into this box because I told him to. _I_ will judge when the time is right for him to come out. Now activate the rings."

"Whatever you say, boss lady."

Gary punched out a series of keys and LED lights all around the circle lit up with a bright red glow. The neon symbols flickered to life and the computer programmer ran a quick check on the fiber optic lines to make sure there were no breaks. He gave her a thumbs up and Integra inserted the key into the first lock.

Six locks, six crosses. Integra tossed the last cross out of the circle and shoved the chains off the lid.

"Alucard, No-Life King, Dracula, Vlad Tepes. Come forth."

Integra expected the coffin lid to come flying off with explosive force, but it simply lifted, roughly a centimeter, and slid to the side. Alucard lay inside, arms crossed over his chest in classic corpse style. His skin had bleached to a pasty translucence and his flesh had sunken in around his bones. His hair lay stark and white against the straps of his black leather bindings. His eyes opened, glowing red and hungry.

"Integra. My master."

His voice croaked out of a throat gone dry with lack of nourishment.

"Alucard, my servant. Do you recognize this place?"

Those hungry eyes roamed over the ceiling and then the sunken eyelids closed over them.

"The room of binding."

"Then you know what we're about to do."

A smile curved Alucard's lips, a look of perfect contentment settling over his ravaged features.

"You will bind me once again to the Hellsing family, sealing my powers away to serve your whims."

Put that way, it sounded vaguely…obscene. Integra wondered at the serenity on the vampire's face. The others had all left the circle terrified. The process was apparently rather unpleasant. Did her method differ so greatly from her ancestor's? Only Alucard could answer that question.

"Good. Remove yourself from the coffin. We need you on top of it."

Smirking, Alucard began to levitate, wind whipping the hair around his face in white tendrils. His body cleared the coffin and the lid flew up the take its place below him.

"Show off," Integra muttered as he settled into position on the black surface. He just grinned at her.

Reaching into her pocket, Integra pulled out a pair of white gloves with black alchemical symbols inscribed on the back. Alucard's eyes latched onto the items. Did the skin around his eyes tighten a little? Did that Cheshire grin melt a touch around the edges? She held the gloves out to him.

"Are you going to do the honors or do I have to?"

"All you had to do was ask."

He reached for the gloves and Integra realized she had never seen his hands bare before now. He had long, elegant fingers with tapered nails that reflected light like glass. Raised scars marred the perfection of the pale skin, specifically in a whorl on the back of each hand. Frowning, she watched him slip first one and then the other glove over those elegant fingers. He settled back on the coffin, hands at his sides.

"I am ready, master."

He had obviously done this before. Integra stood and pulled one last thing from her pocket: a black leather case with a sterilized scalpel inside. Pulling the steel blade out, she unbuttoned the cuff of her shirt and pushed the sleeve up to her elbow. Alucard watched her movements the way a starving man watched a table being laid with food.

"Are you ready, Mr. Wilson?"

"Sure am," he said and then muttered under his breath, "I hope you know what you're doing."

"Just run the program, Gary."

"Yes, ma'am."

The computer tech typed in a command and pressed enter. A series of purple LED lights flared around the circle, painting the room a lurid crimson. Alucard's back arched and his mouth opened, fangs straining as though a current of electricity ran through him. The symbols on the backs of his new gloves flared with the same crimson color as the lights around the alchemical circle. His fingers dug into the coffin lid beneath him as the black, polished wood began to glow…if black could be considered capable of glowing.

Integra held her wrist over his straining mouth and slashed it with the scalpel, careful to cut in such a way that she wouldn't bleed out. Blood welled up and dripped down into the vampire's open mouth. His throat worked, swallowing as fast as the liquid entered his gaping maw, lest he miss even a single drop.

"In the sea without lees; Standeth the bird of Hermes; Eating his wings variable; And maketh himself yet full stable; When all his feathers be from him gone; He standeth still here as a stone; Here is now both white and red; And all so the stone to quicken the dead; All and some without fable; Both hard and soft and malleable; Understand now well and right; And thank you God of this sight."

Alucard's arched back slowly relaxed as Integra's blood flowed and her voice spoke the words to seal the binding. His eyes closed as his flesh filled out and his hair flushed to black.

"The Bird of Hermes is my name, eating my wings to make me tame."

The lights of the circle flared as his rich voice sealed the incantation. Integra lowered her bleeding wrist to his lips, knowing that his fangs would not pierce her flesh. She willed it so.

**End Note:**

Yeah, so…try reading the Ripley Scroll. Makes _no_ sense…but I think that was partially the point. I've always loved the inscription on Alucard's coffin, though, and felt like it had a strong influence on the seals that Van Helsing must have put on him. After all, those ARE alchemical seals on the backs of his gloves…even if they never appear the same way twice in the Manga and have a tendency to have names of random animes on them. (Don't believe me? Check out the top frame of page 20 in Volume four of the manga. The inscription on Alucard's gloves very clearly states 'Trigun, Excel Saga, Comic master' on the outside edge. …I have issues for having noticed that. I really do.)

Whoever left the anonymous comments on chapters one and three, thank you. I wish I knew your name, though. I'm glad to know my genius (insanity?) is not alone in the world. Heh.


	6. Epilogue: Home Again

Note: I decided to go ahead and post the epilogue as well, tonight, since it's so short. And that makes this fanfic complete. Please let me know what you think, everyone. And if you came to this fanfic without seeing Legacy of Hellsing, please check it out.

*HUGS*

Epilogue: Home Again

Alucard's eyes opened in the close darkness of his beloved coffin. Bags of Romanian earth cushioned his back and his hands ached with the pain of third degree burns. Unlike a normal wound, that ache would persist for weeks, maybe even months before it faded. Jus t like before.

A tender smile curved his lips.

He could feel her again, that commanding presence on the edge of his consciousness. Her will wrapped around his like a dog in harness, bent to the will of its master. His master…Integra.

Pushing the lid from his coffin, he rose and stretched, gloved hands flexing. Sweet agony rushed down his arms from where the seals melded with his flesh.

Looking around, he spotted a bottle sitting on his table next to a wine glass. A small ice chest sat under the table, undoubtedly with blood packets inside. A vampire did need the occasional midnight snack.

Heading for his throne, he settled down to pour himself a glass of blood. He sipped at the liquid, a vintage taken from the veins of the various Hellsing personnel. It couldn't compare to the taste of Integra's blood, but it quenched the fiery thirst at his core.

He felt her summons as he finished the last of the blood from the bottle. Grinning from ear to ear, he rose, his red duster swirling about his legs. Striding across his dungeon room, he phased through the wall.

V^^^V

Integra scratched around the edges of the bandage on her wrist. The infernal thing _itched_. And it made her empty eye socket ache.

Reaching out, she plucked a cigar from the case on her desk. Lighting it, she took a deep inhale and settled back in her chair. The wound in her side twinged, but it had begun feeling better since the completion of the sealing ritual. Her physician attributed it to a reduction in stress.

As she inhaled the second puff of her cigar, Alucard phased through the wall of her office. He crossed the room and knelt before her, head bowed. Integra leaned forward and reached out to remove his hat.

"Let me see your eyes."

Alucard reached up to remove his orange spectacles and lifted his chin to gaze into her blue eye. The look on his face matched the rapture of a true believer laying eyes on a vision of God.

"Are you well fed?"

"Yes, my master."

"We have a situation. Reports of a creature taking up residence in the London district of Lewisham. You will investigate the situation, and if the perpetrator is supernatural in nature, you will terminate with extreme prejudice. Approval to consume verified. Unlock restriction level four."

Alucard's trademark manic grin stretched across his face. He rose from his kneeling position and replaced his spectacles as he retrieved his hat from her desk.

"As you command, my master."

"It's good to have you home in truth, count."

"I am truly home, now, countess."

_**The End**_

**End Note: **

Why 'countess' instead of 'count'? Well…I like it better. The scanlations had it that way, although I later read that the actual, direct translation would not have the feminine adjustment and technically, Alucard calls Integra 'count' at the very end of the manga. But…I like 'countess'. *grin*


End file.
